In a shocking incident, a young Dalit woman was set on fire by her estranged husband in front of dozens of people succumbed to the injuries at Chengaloor in Kerala’s Thrissur district. None of the people around had tried to prevent the crime or reported the incident to police.
Jeethu (29), daughter of Janardanan of Vellikkunlangara, Thrissur, was set ablaze by husband Viraj from Monadi in the same district near the venue of a meeting of the Kudumbasree woman’s self-help group at Chengaloor on Sunday. She succumbed to the burn injuries at the Government Medical College Hospital, Thrissur late Monday night.
The incident took place in the presence of dozens of people including a woman member of the local administration body, Puthukkad Grama Panchayat, and Kudumbasree workers. Viraj approached Jeethu when she was coming out of the Kudumbasree office and set her ablaze after pouring petrol over her, reports said.
They said there were serious problems in their family life and Viraj committed the brutality just when proceedings were on for their divorce. Jeethu and Viraj, who had been married for the past six years, were living separately for the past two months. Police officials said Viraj had gone into hiding and could have fled to Mumbai.
Jeethu was attacked by her husband when she was coming out of the Kudumbasree meeting to which she was summoned for settling a loan she had availed earlier. Though there reportedly were around 40 people including Panchayat member Geetha at the spot nobody tried to intervene for saving Jeethu.
Even after Viraj set Jeethu ablaze after pouring petrol over her, nobody from the spectators even tried to put off the fire or take her to the hospital. “The people did not do anything to save Jeethu but stood there like mere spectators. Nobody had even bothered to inform the police,” said a local leader of Dalit outfit Kerala Pulayar Maha Sabha (KPMS).
The police have reportedly recovered a bag belonging to Viraj from the spot where Jeethu was set ablaze, which contained a diary in which he had written that he intended to commit suicide after killing her. His decision to murder Jeethu seemed planned, the police said, adding that she could have angered him by filing for divorce.
According to eyewitnesses, Viraj had committed the atrocity by pushing away Janardanan who tried to block him.
“There were all these people but nobody had even helped me to get my daughter into the autorikshaw for taking her to the hospital. His (Viraj’s) brother had even ordered me to take her away immediately,” said Janardanan.
“I begged them (the people around) to help me save my daughter. Would this have happened if one woman from them had intervenedIJ Should I say that they had deliberately refused to interveneIJ” Janardanan said, adding that the police should consider booking these people for forgetting their duty as citizens.